Maddie's Two Month Shots

Today Maddie had her two month shots. The entire experience for her was traumatic. It was freezing and raining outside this morning so she was already in a bad mood (and so was mama!). I had another sleepless night but wanted to make sure I was fully awake for her big day at the doctors. I got her to cheer up a few times.... I kept asking her if she was going to flirt with Dr. Langston. She loves to smile now and it is so adorable. She smiles with her eyes too as if she was flirting with you and she is such a talker as well. She talks non stop with all her coos and noises she can make now. I'm already sensing that we will be getting the calls that she is a chatter box in class.

The doctor was running 45 minutes behind so we made the decision to feed her in the doctors office while waiting. Smart decision because her bad day was about to get worse. She was screaming after her shots, but I tried to tell her how beautiful she looked with her new crayon band aids.... she wasn't buying it (and I honestly wasn't either)... just trying to be strong!

Once we were finally able to get her to sleep, I felt so much better because I knew she was resting. She keeps waking up screaming and it breaks my heart, so I try my best just to get her back to sleep. I know she needs to sleep this off.

Poor baby.

No more mom and dad's room!

My little monkey has started to eat so much! She is now going 5 hours between feedings - a wonderful breakthrough for mom and dad!

Mike and I have also decided that it was time to start inching her towards sleeping in her own room. We like to keep it really cold in our room and for the past two months we have both woken up all night because we are too hot! We have been really trying to keep the temperature good for Maddie so we have pretty much made ourselves miserable. So, we decided that we would put Maddie in her little cradle next to her crib to start with. I have to admit, I think it was harder for me than her. Notice the sleeping bag in the picture? That's because mom ended up in that sleeping bag on the floor half way through the night! Even though we have a video monitor, I was freaking out all night that maybe it stopped working for some reason.

I am happy to report that I am no longer sleeping on the floor in the sleeping bag and Maddie is doing great in her own room!!

WAY TO GO MADDIE!!

Last Newborn Diaper!

Yesterday was Maddie's last newborn diaper. She is getting so big, the newborn diapers were starting to leave red marks because they were getting tight and we finally used the last one. I have to admit I was searching around the room for another one..... putting on that last newborn diaper was a symbolism that she was growing up and I feel like it's just happening so fast. Her newborn clothes still fit for the most part... well... at least the tops do! Maddie has what her cousins have called the "Lewis" butt (aka bubble butt)! So her pants are the first to go when things start getting tight! I'm thinking that she will have completely outgrown her newborn clothes here in the next week.

Although Maddie loves sitting up, she has gotten to the stage where sitting up is pretty much all she wants to do. The only problem is that she can't actually sit up on her own, so this means mom and dad holding her in a sitting position and trying to play. It's hard to grab the toys and play while still holding her. So, we bought the bumbo chair as I mentioned in a previous blog post. Of course this isn't enough for Maddie - she's looking for more. We're going to babies r us today to get her some new baby toys that would aid her in sitting up, like a walker, a bouncer, etc.

"OOOh"

Around 6 weeks, Maddie started making the noise..."oooh." Mike and I have been spelling out words like mommy and Madison. When we get to the O we exaggerate it since she likes this sound. It's so cute!

Maddie is also continuing to smile more and more. She will mimic you if she sees you smile, it's so cute!

Last but not least, she is finally learning to self soothe a little more. She loves to watch the elephants above her swing... it's hilarious to watch how infatuated she is with them!

My little talker!

Our first Valentine’s with “baby”

So… Mike and I are living the city life in San Francisco… which is far different than where I grew up. When you are in downtown, space does not exist and parking does not exist…. None of which is a big deal to anyone here because they are quite used to sharing space and taking public transportation to all their destinations. But... being from Texas and Florida, we miss the quiet, space, garages, fences, and parking!!! So for Valentine ’s Day, Mike and I decided to forego buying big presents and plan a weekend getaway to Napa Valley… which Is like going from Houston to the hill country for the weekend. This was Maddie’s first trip out of town!

Napa Valley, CA

We had such a great time, it was really nice being able to be outside and enjoy the scenery without all the hustle and bustle of city life. It was also Maddie’s first time to have her feet dipped in the pool – she loved it! And by loved it I mean she didn’t make a sad face or cry! She opened her eyes really big like she was surprised. She is just now starting to smile at something and not just randomly. It was so cute to see and of course it makes me teary eyed every time…. I am going to be so embarrassing! 

Sleeping beauty with daddy in Napa

Maddie laughing at 6 weeks old

Maddie had four valentine’s outfits to wear courtesy of her grandparents, Aunt Dana, and us. So… we started off wearing them over the weekend and continued each day up until Valentine’s Day. On Valentine ’s Day Mike went to work as usual and I was at home with Maddie. We woke up to notes around the house asking to be his Valentine, etc . This is something Mike does frequently so it’s become kind of a game to try and figure out where the notes are. I have found one on the diaper table, in the wipe warmer (under the lid), mirror in the bathroom, on the radio where my cell phone charges, and many more. Sometimes being at home with the little one all day can be hard work, so this always helps to start my day of right!

Maddie's Valentine's swimsuit



Valentine's outfit from Nanny

Valentine Outfit from Aunt Dana

Valentine outfit from Aunt Dana

One of the hard things about living here is not having any family around that I would trust leaving Maddie with while she is this little. So what kind of Valentine’s dinner do you have with a 6 week old? As cheesy as it is, I decided that I would make our own little restaurant at home. I got out the good china, placemats, printed little menus, and candles.  Of course we were going to make Mike’s favorite (and mine too) cupcakes, Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting! So… Maddie and I made a trip to the store and got all the stuff for the cupcakes, of course some small fun presents for Mike, and put on a roast for dinner. Maddie was up all day and definitely wanted to be part of the action…. I wasn’t sure I would get all of it done – but I did, successfully! It’s moments like that when I go… whew… I can do this whole mom/wife thing!!! J.

Dinner was wonderful. Maddie actually went to sleep right about that time for a nap and we got to enjoy some quiet time while we sipped on a bottle of wine we had bought in Napa – an O’Brien Estates 2010 Chardonnay called “Attraction.”….. Perfect for Valentine’s Day! This winery has a wine for every stage in your life… Attraction, Love, Eternity, etc. While we were there getting the wine, I made a joke asking where the one for labor was… shouldn’t a women who goes through that deserve to get a wine bottle named after it?? The man joked back and said… kids are not romantic at all… there is nothing romantic about kids.  The thing is…. I somewhat disagree with him…. Staring at a precious baby that you created with someone you love so much seems as romantic as it can get to me! J.

Maddie's Newborn Shots

Maddie had her newborn shots last weekend. The same photographer that took our maternity shots was able to take her newborn shots as well (Jennifer Jamieson). We took the shots in downtown San Francisco at Jennifer's studio. Of course the morning that we are all trying to get ourselves out the door at a decent hour... Maddie decides that she wants to poop in the towel after her bath. Super! But... no matter what this little girl does, she still steals our heart.

You know those cute little sleeping shots you see?.... Well, I was about 99 percent sure we were not going to get this little diva to sleep for the camera. She's no fool.... when she saw that camera she wanted to pose for it! We tried everything.... food, rocking her, etc. Finally, we gave in and decided to take advantage of her being awake. Of course once we were down to the last 2 minutes of the shoot (and were on a strict time schedule).... Maddie decided she had enough of us and she was tired. I captured this last picture with my phone.

She's just so precious! Love this little angel! Looking forward to seeing more of her pictures at Jennifer's studio next week! 

Diapers and Divas

So….. it’s Thursday night. I remember back in college Thursday night was the “new” Friday. No responsibility and better drink specials. We were always so excited to make the trip down to 6th street in Austin for Thursday nights. Fast forward 7 years and I feel the same excitement that I was able to get my 5 week old down long enough to get this blog post in… oh.. and that we are taking a family trip to babies r us tonight to look for a swimsuit for Maddie. Not just any swim suit…. Her very first swim suit… this is a big deal! Since I’m back tracking a little, I have desperately wanted to find time to get this post in to document her development…. She’s going to be a teenager before I know it and I’m not sure how popular I will be with her if I’m blogging her weekly developments.

Her First 2 Weeks

Madison Sophia Perkins is a born cheerleader my friends. Her small, yet toned physique makes her ideal flyer material and she has tried her best to show us that. Her favorite thing to do in the first two weeks of her life was to straighten her legs and lift them in the air as far as she could. In cheerleading we call this a pike… and Maddie is preparing for her pike jumps and tumbling passes. During these first two weeks, Maddie was also given the nickname “one eyed Willie.” The only swaddle that this child likes is a human one – that means make sure your arms are wrapped around her at all times or she aint sleepin! If you try to put her down, she opens one eye to see what’s going on and assure you that she in fact will not be dozing off like you are expecting her too! For this same reason, I have also referred to her as a chucky doll. For those of you who remember the chucky movies, Maddie is a great imitator. When you have all the lights out and are just about to put her down in her bed….. bam! Her eyes will be wide open staring you down... I just know if she could speak she would be saying, “you better not be putting me in that bed.”

Maddie is a piglet and this was shown in her first two weeks of life. She absolutely loves to eat and is extremely dramatic when she is hungry – which she shows by attempting to eat her hands and shaking her head like an animal. In fact, we even had to call the Doctor because she was choking on her milk… turns out… there was no problem other than she is simply a piglet and likes to drink faster than her body can take down. Luckily we have been able to teach her a more lady like way to eat.

As I have already mentioned, sleeping isn’t really Maddie’s thing. During this phase of her life, she hated her swing, bassinet, crib… you name it! However… her favorite place was her changing table. Her changing table has a picture above it that says “couture” in crystals. She loved (and still does!) this picture. There were many nights when we tried everything to console her and the only thing that would work is laying her on her changing table to stare at her picture. It’s not just that picture Maddie loves… we have noticed that she is infatuated with almost any picture in sight.

Maddie hates Hiccups. If you read about babies getting hiccups, you will read that it doesn’t really bother them… I promise you it bothers this child! She finds them annoying… do you blame her?!? Just when we get her to sleep and a hiccup comes on… Mike and I look at each other and say… “Oh great.” Sure enough she’s crying three seconds later…………. I hate you hiccups!!

Last but not least, Maddie loves holding both of her hands way over her head. We have never been able to put her arms in a swaddle without her throwing a fit… she wants them over her head and by god this girl better gets what she wants!!

3 Weeks

Maddie’s first trip to the zoo! We live right next to the zoo so we figured it was a perfect place to go walking to get us all out of the house. Maddie slept through the first hour and then decided that she no longer wanted to be in her stroller… which meant one of us had to tote her around the entire zoo for the remainder of the day… without a carrier! Whew… neither of us had realized what a workout this day would be!

Her favorites this week…. To keep her fists clinched and smile randomly (they say this means she is passing gas but I refuse to believe it’s not just because she loves mom and dad). One big thing we noticed this week was that she loved sitting up like a big girl. We would prop her up against the couch and we begin discussions of going and getting the bumbo chair. We also noticed that she had very ticklish feet! She would actually pull them back when you tickled them.

Last but not least… we had our first “accident” on the changing table where quite frankly… one diaper could not hold what this child needed to let go of…. Boy was this an experience!        I can’t wait to insert this picture in her wedding slide show. This was also the first time she didn’t cry in the bath tub…. Hey… at least this girl knows what it takes to be beautiful.

4 Weeks

Maddie has decided at 4 weeks that she now loves her swing… we are finally able to use this to console her!.. Not all the time of course… just when SHE decides she will allow us to have a small break. She has also definitely noticed who we are and can follow us with her eyes. This was so amazing! She has such big eyes and is extremely alert at this stage. I was feeding her in the Nordstrom’s lounge and there was another mom in there with a 3 year old girl… the little girl asked her mom really loud…” why does that baby have such big eyes?” Her eyes seem to get bluer each and every day.

She is also making new sounds every day that sound more like a language. We call her a kitty cat because sometimes she almost sounds as if she is meowing as her crying becomes more controlled.

Her month old doctor’s appointment showed she was almost 9 pounds and 20 ½ inches.

5 Weeks

I’m amazed at her development! I put her in the bumbo chair and she holds her head up! I took her into Walgreens and the pharmacists were amazed at how alert she was and how much she was observing the place… they say she is going to be a scientist! My only question is… are scientists stylish?